Yes, she’s very Irish, actually. Because she commits to the bit.
No one deserves to be honored more this St. Patrick’s Day than reigning Irish-American comedy princess Ayo Edebiri. The Bear and Bottoms star became the toast of Ireland this past year and it’s her day to shine.
Now if you’re not terminally online, you might be wondering how the Boston-born daughter of a Nigerian dad and Barbadian mom has come to be so enthusiastically adopted by the people of Ireland. Well, after joking to Letterboxd that she lived in Ireland for four months while playing Jenny the donkey in The Banshees of Inisherin, it became a running joke that Edebiri was, in fact, from Ireland. The Irish Independent has dubbed her an “honorary Irish princess” and The Irish Times has published that they are “proud” to call Edebiri Irish. The Bear star has returned the honor, proudly repping her fake homeland of Ireland during her Critics Choice Awards acceptance speech, and giving shoutouts to various Irish counties and cities on the Emmys red carpet:
Ayo Edebiri arrives at the #Emmys, showing support for Ireland.
“Shout out to my people! Shout out to Derry! Shout out to Cork!” pic.twitter.com/PdfMFDSWEE
Still, if you’re not ethnically Irish, you could still be befuddled over why this has happened. How does a non-Irish American comedian crack a joke about playing a donkey and become universally upheld as a cultural icon by an entire nation and its descendants? After all, she just seems to be doubling down on a silly gag.
And that, right there, is the reason the Irish love Ayo Edebiri. The only thing the Irish love more than Guinness, poetry, and breeding ourselves across the globe, is committing hard to the bit.
The Irish have a storied history with humor, but I sometimes think it’s slightly misunderstood.
